Posted on January 28, 2014 10:31:19 PM
By Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano,
Reporter
SY-LED SM Prime Holdings, Inc. plans
to spend about P10 billion to expand existing malls in the next two years, the
firm’s top officials told reporters on the sidelines of the opening yesterday
of Mega Fashion Hall at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
SM Prime President Hans T. Sy bared the plan to add a level to the
existing two-floor SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
“We’re trying to start in the third
quarter this year. We’re finishing all the plans because it’s such a large
expansion -- an additional of almost 200,000 square meters (sq.m.),” Mr. Sy
said.
The official said expansion will cover
the whole mall situated near Manila Bay, noting the structure has provision for
up to four floors.
Asked on the cost of the expansion,
Mr. Sy said: “Our initial estimate of that is about P1.8 billion. It’s just
like building another mall, but because the size is 200,000 [sq.m.].”
He added that SM Primes targets
completion of the expansion in 2016.
Besides the mall in Pasay, SM Prime
will also expand SM City Bacolod, SM City Lipa and SM City Iloilo, according to
the same official. “All of them will be around 30,000-50,000 sq.m., so around
50% more space for each,” Mr. Sy said. “We don’t wait for the economy to grow
before we expand but we are looking positively at the economy. We are confident
that it is sustainable.”
Besides the shopping malls’ retail
areas, Mr. Sy said the firm will also expand its call center space in SM Taytay
and SM North Edsa. “The call centers, right now, are minimal but we are growing
that. Some of the growth areas are Taytay and North Edsa,” Mr. Sy said, adding
expansion will involve construction of new buildings. “What we learned really
is that call centers have easier time to recruit people when these are located
beside malls.”
Jeffrey C. Lim, executive
vice-president and chief finance officer, said expansion of the malls and the
office buildings will entail a total investment of around P10 billion.
“Including Mall of Asia -- which is about P1-2 billion -- and the office
buildings, that’s maybe around P10 billion.”
He said mall expansion is expected to
be completed in the next two years.
GLOBAL BRANDS
SM Prime yesterday formally opened the
expansion of SM Megamall called Mega Fashion Hall which is designed to house
global retail brands, including the Swedish brand H&M Hennes & Mauritz
AB (H&M).
“The reason we call it a fashion hall,
you would see that we placed a lot of new, exciting hip brands that are very
fashionable. We will also have the first H&M in country,” said Steven T.
Tan, vice-president for SM Supermalls Premier Division.
Of the 125 tenants expected to occupy
Mega Fashion Hall, Mr. Tan said about 90% will be global retailers and the rest
will be homegrown.
“Today, we will be 50% operational and
you will see another 10% opening of stores on a month-to-month basis,” Mr. Tan
said.
He added that the fashion hall is
expected to be fully operational -- with all stores open -- by the third
quarter.
In a statement attached to a
disclosure yesterday, SM Prime said the 86,000-sq.m. new wing of SM Megamall
has five floors to match the older buildings of the mall.
Global brands like Denmark’s Vero
Moda, Spain’s Pull & Bear and Uno de 50, Los Angeles-based Joe’s Jeans, London’s
Savile Row and Burton, French shoe brand Nao de Brasil, and US skincare label
Philosophy will open their local flagship stores in the this part of the mall.
It will also bring in some
international dining concepts like Hong Kong’s Michelin-Star dimsum restaurant
Tim Ho Wan, the first Saint Marc’s Café of Tokyo, and gyoza specialist Osaka
Ohsho.
Homegrown specialty restaurants like
Abe, pastry shop Chez Karine and Viking’s Buffet will also have their branches
in the mall.
The new wing will also house an IMAX
theater, Director’s Club for private screening functions, an Olympic-sized ice
skating rink and a 14-lane bowling center.
“We keep on evolving and we keep on
changing so we will keep on introducing new and fashionable stores,” Mr. Tan
said.
“We’re always listening to what the
market needs and what the market wants and we’re ready for that.”
SM Prime shares closed P14.86 apiece
yesterday, up 20 centavos or 1.36% from P14.66 each on Monday.
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